Role & Skills of Business Analyst in Agile Projects
What is an Agile Software Development Model?
To begin with, Agile is neither a framework nor a methodology. It is more of philosophy with a combination of principles focused on accelerating software development. There are 12 principles in total, with 4 core ones:
- - People and collaboration are more important than processes and tools
- - A working product is more important than comprehensive documentation
- - Cooperation with the customer is more important than discussing the terms of the contract
- - Desire to change is more important than following a plan
Agile implies breaking down huge projects into a series of small tasks (commonly referred to as user stories) and prioritizing them. Prioritization is very important, in fact, it is the most important element in agile development. The team is focused on one sprint or on the most important result at the moment. This way, team members don't get lost in the flow of requests and requirements and know that every sub-task they're currently working on is important to the progress of the entire project.
Why Business Analyst role is important?
Business analyst is the link between the Scrum team and the customer's business. And it is especially important in case of lack of time for stakeholders, or product owner absence.
Business analyst will be the center of knowledge accumulation on the subject area of the product, will control the quality of the product, conduct product reviews, prepare data for backlog refinement, etc.
However, business analysts also face challenges which can be summarized as follows:
- No mandatory documentation requirements
- Lack of analysis phase and short iterations of development & delivery
- New Product Owner role
According to our team of business analysts who have been involved in various projects at Edsson, all of these challenges can be solved by using consecutive steps,
Interaction and communication
with the team to jointly determine the optimal set of documentation for the most effective product development and delivery based on the principle: Do Stakeholders Need It? Does the team need it?
At the project's start. Form a common understanding of the purpose and the initial decomposition of product requirements.
Before each iteration. Describe in detail and explain the requirements for planned changes.
At each iteration. Support and detailed team mentoring.
Product Owner’s Help. Decompose requirements and determine the relationships between them during the formation and prioritization of the backlog.
All roles in an agile environment have specific responsibilities, but business analysts take on different roles depending on the characteristics of the project. Usually supported the product owner and perform a number of necessary functions:
- Conducting assessments
- Creating of business process models and system requirements ensuring that user stories are properly maintained in the product backlog
- Planning, writing, analyzing, reviewing, and maintaining project documentation
These features are important for a flexible environment. There are three specific areas where agility defines how business analysts do their job.
Communication
If you've ever worked in an agile environment, you know that good communication is vital to the success of the project. Agile requires consistency in the decisions of all stakeholders, including managers and users. Development also relies heavily on user stories and active feedback loops.
But for communication to be effective, there must be a bridge between different levels and teams in an agile environment. This bridge is the business analyst.
It is especially important to close the gap between developers and stakeholders. A business analyst can help by translating business needs into user stories and communicating them to the developers, as well as prioritizing different solutions for all teams on the task list.
Business Analyst helps ensure disciplined communications between all teams involved during development.
Creating a product roadmap
A product roadmap is paramount to the timely development and success of any agile project.
Roadmaps helps:
- Turn business needs into technological workflow management
- Compile graphs used in project dynamics analysis
- Mark up test periods throughout the life cycle of the project
As a communication bridge, the business analyst can capture all requirements and turn them into planned, actionable steps for the team.
Keeping the team on the right track
Focusing teams is another fundamental responsibility of the business analysts. They make sure that managers, developers and users are focused on the end goal of the project.
An experienced business analyst creates a lot of models and shares them with the teams so that they all have a common view of the situation. Modeling is an important tool for several reasons:
- Translates project business requirements into business values, functionality, and user experience.
- Transmits the same understanding of the subject area to teams operating in different environments.
- Reminds and keeps attention on the goals and prospects for the development of the project for all participants.
Summary
Business analyst delivers significant value to the agile team, focusing on improving collaboration, sharing knowledge, transferring skills, adding value to work, maintaining focus on project priorities, and all-round professional development.